VIDEO: A major fire broke out today in a neighborhood near Ray High School and not far from Del Mar College on the 1400 block of Ormond Drive. Firefighters were initially called to the home on Ormond around 1 p.m. The thick cloud of smoke is what caught several people's attention. "I could smell barbecue, but it was different; I came outside and it was flaming man, flaming," said neighbor Arnold Alvarez. The blaze was so intense that it wound up spreading to another home right next door as well as damaging a shed and several vehicles. Crews worked from the ground as well as using a ladder truck to fight the flames from up above. "For there not to be any injuries to my firefighters or to any citizens that is big on an incident that looks this big," said Battalion Chief Billy Belyeu with CCFD. Investigators are now looking into what caused it.  

VIDEO: Firefighters in Orange took about an hour to extinguish a sawmill fire early Friday morning. The fire was reported at about 3 a.m. Friday morning at the Rogers Lumber Company in the 8000 block of Old Highway 90 on the west side of the city. No injuries were reported in the fire which caused minor damage at the sawmill off Interstate 10 just west of Highway 62. Firefighters have not determined at this time what started the fire. The family that runs the sawmill tells 12News that there was some welding going on at the facility yesterday and that they believe that the fire began to smolder in the sawdust and a small fire broke out over night and began to grow before it was reported. Firefighters had left the scene before 7 a.m.  

Governor Greg Abbott announced six appointments to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, including one individual from Lubbock. The commission oversees and develops fire standards and provides education to the industry, according to a news release from Abbott's office. Appointees include Tim Smith of Lubbock, Michael Glynn of Roanoke, Clyde Loll of Huntsville, David Coatney of College Station and Christopher G. Cantu of Round Rock. J.P. Steelman of Longview was also named chair of the commission in the same announcement. Smith is an emergency room nurse administrator for Star ER. He is fire chief/ems director for the West Carlisle Volunteer Fire department, serves on the board of directors for the Advisory Council RAC-A, and is president of the Lubbock County Fire Fighters Association and State Firefighters and Fire Marshals Association.  

VIDEO: An Odessa firefighter was given a once in a lifetime gift as a big thank you for his service. Bryant, a heating and cooling company, chooses one first responder each year to recognize their invaluable service to their communities. This year they landed in Odessa. Tyler Henry, a firefighter with Odessa Fire Rescue was chosen for his years of service and thanked with a new HVAC unit which they installed at his home for him. It's a top-of-the-line air conditioner that should make the Henry family's summer much more comfortable. The Henry family said the new unit means a lot to them since they wouldn't have been able to afford one like this on their own. "It means a lot for companies to do this for people that are trying to serve and are trying to do good for their community," Henry said.  

VIDEO: Storms in April are nothing new in St. Louis. In fact, we've come to expect them. But there was a storm no one saw coming back in the spring of 1976. And, as you'll see in this edition of Vintage KSDK, this one blew helmets off firefighters and could have wiped out the entire city. "This is a firestorm," explained Charles Kamprad, the St. Louis fire chief at the time. "It's magnitude is 500 times greater than a five-alarm fire would be." Another fire in the city in May 1849 would come to be called the "great St. Louis fire". A firefighter died in that disaster, and a significant part of the city was destroyed. But this fire in 1976 posed a threat that had the potential to be just as devastating. It happened on April 2, 1976. Flames broke out in the vacant Heyday Shoe Building at 21st and Locust. The building had been empty for years after being gutted by a previous fire, which set the stage for this one to spread quickly.  

VIDEO: The way Matt Boney describes it, what happened on Wednesday sounds like the biggest-hearted game of telephone ever, which managed — for 40 minutes — to turn a nightmare into the birthday surprise of any 6-year-old boy's dreams. On Tuesday, Spring Valley firefighter Jared Lloyd, 35, died in the smoke and flame of the Evergreen Court Adult Home fire. The volunteer with Columbian Fire Engine Co. No. 1 was an Optimum service tech and the father of two boys: Darius, 5, and Logan. Wednesday was Logan's 6th birthday and just his second day — of all of his 2,192 days — without his dad. He told his mother, Lloyd's girlfriend, that what he wanted for his birthday was a firetruck. When word got out, that telephone game got started. Jared's boy wants a firetruck. We've got firetrucks. And ambulances. And dumptrucks. And police cruisers.  

On March 11, the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee introduced the Next Generation 9-1-1 Act of 2021 as part of the LIFT America Act (H.R. 1848). This legislation will provide $15 billion to update our nation's 9-1-1 infrastructure, protect this infrastructure from cyber threats and ensure that first responders will be able to efficiently use Next Generation 9-1-1 technology to save lives. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is strongly advocating for this bill's passage and is urging Congress to include this text in the upcoming House infrastructure package. This bill provides the tools to effectively carry out the modernization of the nation's 9-1-1 infrastructure. Of particular importance are the portions of this legislation that address interoperability, cybersecurity, training and consultation with first responders and other end users of the 9-1-1 system.  

PHOTOS: Firefighters were on the scene of a structure fire at the Alvin's Island retail beach store in Destin on Thursday. Firefighters from multiple agencies were on the scene and a ladder truck with firefighters was inspecting the roof of the building. West and eastbound lanes of U.S. Highway 98 shutdown for an extended period of time as they battled the blaze. The store is located across from Sundestin condominiums at 1073 U.S. Highway 98. Alvin's Island owns a handful of stores along U.S. 98. The store that is on fire is store #11. The cause of the fire is unknown. Firefighters were still on scene Friday to put out hot spots.  

PHOTOS: While things have begun to change in recent years, female firefighters are still relatively rare. But what's even more uncommon is to have two female firefighters, in the same small department, expecting babies at around the same time. Heather Jones thought it was rare enough that she decided to ask fellow firefighter, Cindy Simon, to join her in a photo shoot that turned out to be an excellent recruiting tool for the Gibraltar Fire Department. Jones said she thought it would be a fun idea so she contacted Love, Ashley Photography, who has taken her family pictures in the past, to take maternity photos. "At first it was just maternity pictures for our families," Jones said. "I invited Cindy because I thought it would be cool to take pictures together because not too often are there two active pregnant females in a fire department. Cindy and I are both on the fire department's recruiting committee and recently we have been promoting we are hiring and seeking new members."